Maria C. R. Harrington, Ph.D.

                                                                                                            

The Harrington Lab: https://virtualnature.org

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/@mariaharrington2565/videos

 

 

Education

 

Ph.D. in Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 2008

M.S. in Information Science, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 1990

B.S. in Economics, Art minor, Carnegie Mellon University, 1988

 

Employment History

Since 2016         University of Central Florida

Associate Professor (Tenured 2022), Assistant Professor (2016 – 2022)

Games and Interactive Media Program, Digital Media M.A. Program, Nicholson School of Communication and Media;  Secondary Joint Appointment UCF Learning Sciences Cluster;  Graduate Faculty Member, College of Graduate Studies, Orlando, FL

Principle investigator on several grants developing digital twins of natural environments and the design, development, and evaluation of immersive informal learning applications. Taught in graduate and undergraduate programs (over 1,500 students), chaired or committee member on graduate student research (15), and course development activities (six new courses). Service to community includes editorial boards, grant review panels, invited peer reviews, and university, college, school, and department committees. Community service engagement served on parks and science center advisory boards, ad hock collaboration with museums and parks to engage the public in learning about the natural world through immersive applications. 

 

Honors and Awards

 

2022                          University of Central Florida, College of Sciences, Excellence in Research Award

2022                          University of Central Florida, Nicholson School of Communication and Media, Outstanding Creative Activity Award

2021                          Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), Learner Engagement Division, Outstanding Digital Learning Artifact Award

2021                          Museum and Web International Conference, MW21 GLAMi Award, Finalist in Resources for Scholars and Researchers Category

2020                          Museum and Web International Conference, MW20 GLAMi Award, Finalist in Exhibition Media or Experience: Immersive Media (AR/VR/Environmental)

2019                          Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Research Associate (Invited, three year appointment)

2018                          Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Powdermill Nature Reserve, Artist in Residence Award

2017                           University of Central Florida, Office of Research and Commercialization, Mentoring Program Award

2006                          University of Pittsburgh, 30th Annual Honors Convocation, Outstanding Graduate Student Award

2005                          University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences, Allen Kent Award

 

 

Ph.D. Dissertation

 

Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2008). Ph.D. Thesis: Simulated Ecological Environments for Education (SEEE): A Tripartite Model Framework of HCI Design Parameters for Situational Learning in Virtual Environments Available on D-Scholarship@Pitt http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/8971/ , (8,278 Downloads).

 

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/816,357 “Simulated Ecological Environments for Education and Methods of Creating and Implementing Same” (June 23, 2006)

 

Published Refereed Research

Google Scholar Citations

 

International Published Journal Articles (Peer-Reviewed)

J.6.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 13, 2023). Virtual Nature Makes Knowledge Beautiful. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 4. Sec. Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour.  doi: 10.3389/frvir.2023.1100540, URL = https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frvir.2023.1100540 

J.5.        Harrington, Maria, C. R., Bledsoe, Z., Jones, C., Miller, J., Pring, T. (2021). Designing a Virtual Arboretum as an Immersive, Multimodal, Interactive, Data Visualization Virtual Field Trip. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(4), 18. doi:  https://doi.org/10.3390/mti5040018 (Scopus Citescore 3.7)

J.4.       Harrington, Maria, C. R., Tatzgern, M. Langer T., Wenzel, J. W. (2019). Augmented Reality Brings the Real World into Natural History Dioramas with Data Visualizations and Bioacoustics at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Curator: The Museum Journal, 62(2), 177 – 193. First published in Wiley Online Library (April 19, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12308 (SJR H-index: 8, a premiere international journal for museums)

J.3.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2012). The Virtual Trillium Trail and the Empirical Effects of Freedom and Fidelity on Discovery-based Learning. Springer Nature: Virtual Reality, 16(2), 105 – 120. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10055-011-0189-7 (Impact Factor: 5.095)

J.2.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2011). Empirical Evidence of Priming, Transfer, Reinforcement, and Learning in the Real and Virtual Trillium Trails. IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 4(2), 175 – 186. https://www.computer.org/csdl/journal/lt/2011/02/tlt2011020175/13rRUxjQyrq (Impact Factor: 3.32)

J.1.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2009). An Ethnographic Comparison of Real and Virtual Reality Field Trips to Trillium Trail: The Salamander Find as a Salient Event. In Freier, N.G. & Kahn, P.H. (Eds.), Children, Youth and Environments: Special Issue on Children in Technological Environments, 19(1), 74 – 101. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.19.1.0074?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

 

International Published In Proceedings (Peer-Reviewed Conferences)

C.16.     Harrington, Maria C. R., Jones, Chris, Peters, Crissy. (August, 2022). “Course on Virtual Nature as a Digital Twin: Botanically Correct 3D AR and VR Optimized Low-polygon and Photogrammetry High-polygon Plant Models.” ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference 2022 Courses (ACM SIGGRAPH 2022 Courses), Virtual Event, USA, August 7 - 11, 2022; ACM: New York, NY, USA. DOI 10.1145/3532720.3535663. https://s2022.siggraph.org/presentation/?id=gensub_252&sess=sess217#038;sess=sess217

C.15.     Harrington, Maria C. R. (August, 2021). “Virtual Nature.” ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference 2021 Birds of a Feather (ACM SIGGRAPH 2021 BOF), Virtual Event, USA, August 9 - 13, 2021; ACM: New York, NY, USA. https://s2021.siggraph.org/presentation/?id=bof_136&sess=sess429 

C.14.     Harrington, Maria, C. R. (August, 2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Application Design for Immersive Learning Research Using Virtual Nature: Making Knowledge Beautiful and Accessible with Information Fidelity. In Proceedings of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference Talks (SIGGRAPH ’20 Talks), Virtual Event, USA, August 17, 2020; ACM: New York, NY, USA, 2 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3388767.3407318 (Overall Acceptance Rate 1,822 of 8,601 submissions, 21%)

C.13.     Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June, 2020). Virtual Dioramas Transform Natural History Museum Exhibit Halls & Gardens to Life with Immersive AR. In Proceedings of ACM SIG CHI The ACM Interaction Design and Children (IDC) Conference 2020: Demos & Art Exhibition. London, UK. June 21 – 24, 2020: Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 276 – 279. https://doi.org/10.1145/3397617.3402036

C.12.     Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June, 2020). Connecting User Experience to Learning in an Evaluation of an Immersive, Interactive, Multimodal Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama in a Natural History Museum & the Importance of Story. In Proceedings of the IEEE, iLRN 2020: 6th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network. San Luis Obispo, California. June 21 – 25, 2020. DOI: 10.23919/iLRN47897.2020.9155202 

C.11.      Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March, 2020) Observation of Presence in an Ecologically Valid Ethnographic Study Using an Immersive Augmented Reality Virtual Diorama Application. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), Atlanta, GA, USA (virtual), March 22 –  26, 2020; 813-814. DOI: 10.1109/VRW50115.2020.00257

C.10.     Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March, 2020). Augmented and Virtual Reality Dioramas and Arboretums for Museum XR Exhibition Engagement and Learning Design as a Lightning Talk. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual MuseWeb Conference MW20: MW 2020. Los Angeles, CA. March 31 – April 4, 2020. Harrington, Maria. Published March 28, 2020.  Consulted March 28, 2020.
https://mw20.museweb.net/proposal/augmented-and-virtual-reality-dioramas-and-arboretums-for-museum-xr-exhibition-engagement-and-learning-design/

C.9        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (April, 2019). Virtual Dioramas Inside and Outside Museums with the AR Perpetual Garden App. In Proceedings of the Annual MuseWeb conference MW19: MW 2019. Boston, MA. Published online February 14, 2019. Consulted March 13, 2019, April 2 – 6. https://mw19.mwconf.org/paper/virtual-dioramas-inside-and-outside-of-museums-with-the-ar-perpetual-garden-app

C.8.       Harrington, Maria C. R. (November 3 – 4, 2017). Ripples in a Pond: How Virtual Reality may be a Tool of Impact for the Humanities. In Proceedings of the HASTAC 2017, UCF, Orlando, FL.

C.7.         Portnoy, F., Smith, L., Harrington, Maria, C. R., Kremer, K., Nichols, T., & Zammitto, V. (September 19 – 23, 2011). Facing the Human Factors Challenges in Game Design: A Discussion Panel. In Proceedings from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55(1), 520 – 524. Las Vegas, Nevada. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1071181311551106

C.6.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (May 13-15, 2011). The Virtual Trillium Trail — An Educational Simulation of the North American Forests. In Proceedings of the iED Summit: Immersive Education Initiative: Boston Summit 2011. Boston College, Boston, MA.

C.5.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June 3 – 5, 2009). Meta-ontologies for Learning in Virtual and Augmented Realities. Presented at the ACM-SIGCHI IDC09: The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children Workshop on Children and Mobile Technology: Interface Development for Mobile Touch Devices. Como, Italy.

C.4.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 10 – 13, 2008). A Demonstration of Virtual Trillium Trail, a Simulation of a Fourth Grade Field Trip to a Wildflower Reserve for Ecology Education. In Proceedings of the Open Learning Interplay Symposium 2008. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.   

C.3.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (July 30 – August 3, 2006). Situational Learning in Real and Virtual Space: Lessons Learned and Future Directions. In Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH 2006 Educators program (SIGGRAPH ’06). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 48 – es. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1179295.1179344   

C.2.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (June 28, 2006). Trees of Life: Models of Children's Creative Processes. In Proceedings of the ACM DIS 2006. State College, PA.

C.1.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (September 14 – 18, 2005). Virtual Beechwood: Simulated Ecological Environments for Education. In Proceedings of the Conference on Spatial Information Theory 2005. Ellicottville, New York.

 

National Published In Proceedings (Peer-Reviewed Conferences)

N.3.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 22 – 25, 2018). Improving Psychophysical Well-being and Performance in Isolated, Confined, and Extreme Environments with Head Mounted Virtual Reality Photorealistic Simulations of Earth Based Natural Environments. In Proceedings of the 2018 NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop HRP RESEARCH: THE GATEWAY TO MARS, Galveston, TX.

N.2.         Larson, S. and Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 1 – 4, 2012). A Survey of ABET Accredited, Information Systems, Undergraduate Programs in the USA. In Proceedings of the Information Systems Educators Conference (ISECON). New Orleans, Louisiana. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.296.7010

N.1.         Gennari, J., Harrington, Maria, C. R., Hughes, S., Manojlovich, M., & Spring, M. (June 15 – 17, 2003). Preparatory Observations on Ubiquitous Knowledge Environments: The Cyberinfrastructure Information Ether. In Proceedings from NSF Post Digital Library Futures Workshop. Chatham, MA.

 

Regional Published In Proceedings (Peer-Reviewed Conferences)

R.10.     Harrington, Maria, C. R. (January 31 – February 2, 2018). Successful Emergent Team Formation Methods and Process at UCF Digital Media, using Webcourses Discussion Feature and Ideation Techniques. In Proceedings of the 2018 Sunshine State Teaching and Learning Conference, St. Petersburg, FL.

R.9.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 10, 2017). The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project: Work-in-progress Demonstration of a STEM Teaching Resource, the Website, and Virtual Reality Flowers and Plants. In Proceedings of the Plants Beyond Limits Conference, University of Central Florida, Department of Biology, Orlando, FL.

R.8.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 30 – 31, 2012). Birds-of-a-feather Video Game Development: Overview of the Torque 3D Educational Site License. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators, Millersville University, Millersville, PA.

R.7.       Harrington, Maria, C. R., & Kovalchick, L. (March 30 – 31, 2012). Birds-of-a-feather Virtual SRU: How a Project Management Class used Google Earth and Google Sketch-up. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators. Millersville University, Millersville, PA.

R.6.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 3 – 6, 2011). Virtual Environments, Immersive Learning Simulations, and Serious Games as New Instructional Technology for Information Systems Students. In Proceedings of Information Systems Educators Conference. Wilmington, NC.

R.5.         Hulick, F. and Harrington, Maria, C. R. (November 3 – 6, 2011). The Value of Internships in the Information Systems Curriculum: A Case Study. In Proceedings of Information Systems Educators Conference. Wilmington, NC.

R.4.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (April 8 – 9, 2011). Social Networks, Use and Misuse by Businesses: What Information Systems Students Need to Know. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators. Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA.

R.3.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (April 8 – 9, 2011). Video Game Development, a Serious Educational Component of the Curriculum. In Proceedings of the 27th Annual Spring Conference of the Pennsylvania Computer and Information Science Educators. Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA.

R.2.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (March 19 – 21, 2009). The Virtual Trillium Trail: An Educationally Effective Simulation for Ecology Education. In Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators 2009 Conference, Entriken, PA.

R.1.       Harrington, Maria, C. R. (February 29 – March 1, 2008). A Demonstration of Virtual Trillium Trail, a Simulation of a Fourth Grade Field Trip to the Trillium Trail Wildflower Reserve. In Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators 2008. Conference, Ligonier, PA.

 

Scholarly Presentation Activity

Invited Workshops

W.3.      Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2018). “Virtual Nature Workshop.” Game Development and Mixed Reality, MultiMediaTechnology Program of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria, May 14 – 18, 2018.

W.2.   Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2022). “Virtual Nature as an Immersive Digital Twin and the Design Methods, Processes, and Educational Applications.” University of Arizona, College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, School of Information, Tucson, Arizona, April 1, 2022.

W.1.   Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2021). “Virtual Nature and Augmented Reality Application Design and Development Workshop” University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Architecture + Design. March 30 and April 2, 2021. 

 

Invited Guest Panel

I.4.        Harrington, Maria C. R. (April 11, 2023). “Augmented and Virtual Reality Dioramas and Arboretums for XR Exhibitions, Engagement, and Learning Design.” Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL). Atlanta, Georgia.

I.3.        Harrington, Maria C. R. (March 31, 2023). “VR/AR A, Central Florida Immersive Technology Summit – The Future of Education and the Metaverse Orlando, Florida.

I.2.        Harrington, Maria C. R. (February, 1 2023). “UCF Accelerating Digital Twins Readiness Workshop – Virtual Nature Digital Twins.” Orlando, Florida. Orlando, Florida.

I.1.         Harrington, Maria C. R. (November, 30 2022). “Virtual Nature Digital Twins Demonstration.” I/ITSEC 2022  for the National Center for Simulation booth with UCF IST and M&S.  Orlando, Florida. Orlando, Florida.

 

Invited Talks National

T.12.      Harrington, Maria C. R. (June 23, 2021). “Creating Immersive Augmented Reality Applications for Learning.” Serious Play 2021 Conference, Virtual Reality/Mobile: Cutting Edge Apps For Training, Education - Interactive Session. Virtual, June 23, 2021. https://www.seriousplayconf.com/2021-program/

T.11.      Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in AR, MR & VR, for Data Visualization, Learning & Decision Support.” Presented at the UCF ORC The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) Poster Session, Orlando, FL, June, 25, 2019.

T.10.     Harrington, Maria C. R. “AR and VR Virtual Nature Models Ideal for Informal Learning,” Presented at Serious Play 2019 Conference, UCF FIEA, Orlando, FL., July, 24 – 26, 2019.

T.9.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in Augmented reality and Virtual reality for Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums.” Presented to the University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences. Pittsburgh, PA. Dec. 2018 https://pitt.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=4b0724b6-4309-4960-a27f-a9af01247fe8

T.8.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Reality matters in virtual reality for learning sciences research: The Virtual Trillium Trail empirical data and future fMRI studies.” Presented to the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA; Pittsburgh, PA, April 2010. http://halley.exp.sis.pitt.edu/comet/presentColloquium.do?col_id=700

T.7.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual Trillium Trail: The value of Freedom and Fidelity in the child-computer-environment interface.” Presented to the Carnegie Mellon Human-Computer Interaction Institute Seminar Series, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. September, 2008. https://hcii.cmu.edu/news/event/2008/09/virtual-trillium-trail-value-freedom-and-fidelity-child-computer-environment-interface

T.6.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Simulated ecological environments for education: Past and future realities.” Presented to the Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 2008.

T.5.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Tips and Tricks of Building Simulated Ecological Environments for Education: User Centered Design, Activity Analysis, Prototyping, and Techniques.” Presented to the Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Technology Center, Pittsburgh, PA, Oct. 2008.

T.4.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual Trillium Trail: What if you could fly over your favorite park, and explore the ecosystem from any vantage point that you wished?” Presented to the Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve, Fox Chapel, PA, July. 2008.

T.3.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Poetics of Games: Art, Poetry and Storytelling in Modern Game Design.” Presented to Art Institute of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA, Jan. 2008.

T.2.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Trillium Trail and Opportunities for Education in Metaverses and Virtual Environments.” Presented to the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Phipps Education Committee, Pittsburgh, PA, Nov. 2007.

T.1.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “Generating High Fidelity, 3D Computer Graphic Models from Transects and Plot Population Data for Trillium Trail.” University of Pittsburgh, Department of Biological Sciences: E&E Seminar, Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 2007.

 

Invited Talks Regional

t.17.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature: Making Knowledge Beautiful, AR/VR/MR Applications for Immersive Informal Learning and Visual Communications.” UCF NSCM Research and Creativity Colloquium Series, Orlando, Florida. March 26, 2021.

t.16.      Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature.” VRARA Association Central Florida. Orlando, Florida. February 24, 2021. https://www.thevrara.com/blog2/2021/3/2/recap-of-our-event-leading-edge-xr-research-development-and-education

t.15.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature and Immersive Informal Learning Applications Research Program,” Nicholson School of Communication and Media Advisory Board Meeting. UCF, Orlando, Florida. February 17, 2021. 

t.14.      Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature: Making Knowledge Beautiful.” Institute of Simulation and Technology, School of Modeling Simulation and Training, Seminar, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, September 24th, 2020. Video: https://www.ist.ucf.edu/Seminars/-Virtual-Nature-Making-Knowledge-Beautiful

t.13.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in AR and VR: The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project and the AR Perpetual Garden App Demonstration.” Exhibition, Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL, January 17-20. 2020.

t.12.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project, Website with AR and VR 3D Models, VR Desktop and VR HTC Vive Demonstration for Orlando Area Educational Outreach and Grant Planning.” UCF CREATE, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL. April. 2019.

t.11.       Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums and Graduate Students Course Projects from DIG 6812 Digital Interaction for Informal Learning.” Dean’s Executive Council, College of Arts and Humanities, University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL. April. 2019.

t.10.      Harrington, Maria C. R. “A Virtual Nature Model: Experience Virtual Nature.” Presented at the Otronicon Speaker Series, Orlando Science Center. Orlando, FL, January 18-21. 2019.

t.9.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project Demonstration.” Exhibition, Orlando Science Center; Orlando, FL, January 18-21. 2019.

t.8.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Art and Scientific Research, Applied to Informal Learning in Museums and Arboretums for Broader Impact.” Biology Seminar, Presented to the College of Sciences, University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL. Nov. 2018.

t.7.         Harrington, Maria C. R. “Virtual Nature: AR, VR & MR  Knowledge Artifacts for Museums, Botanical Gardens, and Arboretums,” Presented to the University of Central Florida, Faculty Panel on Digital Media for the Fall 2018 Introduction to Ph.D. Text and Technology Program. Orlando, FL. Nov. 2018.

t.6.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project: An Educational Simulation of the Real UCF Arboretum using VR and Educational Website for STEM.” Presented at the Otronicon Speaker Series, Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL, January, 12-15. 2018.

t.5.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual Trillium Trail Project.” Presentation at Otronicon 2017, Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL, Jan 13-16. 2017.

t.4.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “The Virtual Trillium Trail and Educational Simulations.” Presented to the University of Central Florida, Faculty Panel on Digital Media for the Fall 2017 Introduction to Text and Technology course. Orlando, FL. Nov. 2017.

t.3.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “A New Paradigm for Virtual Reality & Simulations for Education, Learning & Creating: The Virtual Trillium Trail Project – Empirical Evidence on Design Factors in Simulated Ecological Environments for Education and Causal Impacts on Emotions, Learning, Priming, Transfer, and Reinforcement.” Presented to the University of Central Florida, Institute for Simulation and Training, Modeling and Simulation Seminar, Orlando, FL, Nov. 2016. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-paradigm-virtual-reality-simulations-education-ucf

t.2.        Harrington, Maria C. R. “Art and Technology.” Presented to the University of Central Florida, SVAD Gallery Artist Talk, School of Visual Arts and Design, Orlando, FL, Nov. 2016. https://www.slideshare.net/MariaCRHarringtonPhD/ucf-svad-art-talk-11162016

t.1.         Harrington, Maria C. R. “VR and STEM Education.” Presented to the I/ITSEC 2016 Modeling & Simulation Conference: K-12 STEM; Orlando, FL, Nov. 2016.

 

Art Shows

a.3.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2017). EXHIBITION: SVAD Faculty 2017. Presented two works of computer art, “The Virtual Trillium Trail,” UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Aug. 2017

a.2.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. (2016). EXHIBITION: SVAD Faculty 2016. Presented two works of computer art, “The Virtual Trillium Trail,” UCF Art Gallery, University of Central Florida, Oct. 2016

a.1.        Harrington, Maria, C. R. LOST AND FOUND 2006. Garfield Artworks Art & Performance Space, Presented six works of computer art, and a multimedia collage, Pittsburgh, PA. Oct. 2006

 

Press Coverage with National or Economic Impact

Majdulina, Hamed. (September 2, 2022). “Dr. Maria Harrington Presents Course on Virtual Nature as a Digital Twin in Vancouver.” UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Retrieved from https://communication.ucf.edu/dr-maria-harrington-presents-course-on-virtual-nature-as-a-digital-twin-in-vancouver/

Popescu, Iulia. (November 3, 2021). “New AR and VR Content Pack Makes the Virtual World Bloom,” UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Retrieved from https://communication.ucf.edu/new-ar-and-vr-content-pack-makes-the-virtual-world-bloom/ 

O’Shea, Patrick. (May 9, 2021). “Versatilist with Maria Harrington.” The Versatilist published on Apple Podcasts. Retrieved from https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/versatilist-with-maria-harrington/id1016303356?i=1000521023510

Canales, Jesse. (August 31, 2020). “UCF App Helps Those Isolated by Coronavirus Get Outdoors.” Spectrum News Channel 13 News. Retrieved from https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2020/08/31/ucf-professor-uses-app-to-help-those-dealing-with-stress-isolation#

Kotala, Zenaida. (May 11, 2020). “Epic Games, maker of Fortnite, awards UCF professor grant to enhance AR and VR technology.” American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS ) EurekAlert! Retrieved from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/uocf-egm051120.php

Momich, Betsy. (Ed). (Spring 2019). “In Bloom.” Carnegie Magazine. 83 (1). p 8. https://carnegiemuseums.org/carnegie-magazine/spring-2019/seen-heard-spring-2019/   

Levere, Jane, L. (March, 12, 2019). “Meeting Old Masters, Rowing With Vikings – in Augmented Reality.” The New York Times, Arts. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/arts/augmented-reality-app-exhibits.html

Daly, Jill. (December 26, 2018). “New Carnegie Museum app shows threat to wildflower diversity in the woods.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved from https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2018/12/26/App-augmented-reality-carnegie-powdermill-woodland-diversity-deer-wildflowers/stories/201812130168?fbclid=IwAR3iO0_ZMy4tOXiayU-UPEUvZPEj9eNXB4OTSyiGMzFCpn-bs7oNCZYghEM 

Davis, Kathleen, J. (December 19, 2018). “Augmented Reality App Shows How Deer Overpopulation Affects Western PA’s Forests.” 90.5 WESA (Pittsburgh, PA, NPR). Retrieved from https://www.wesa.fm/post/augmented-reality-app-shows-how-deer-overpopulation-affects-western-pas-forests?fbclid=IwAR2Hhud6r0pN9GuFBR-Y8GmgSSxkKDlnC6ItO-ymIFhO8pesb4tArCWHQcU#stream/0

 

Press Coverage with Regional Impact

Staff (July 16, 2021). “Virtual UCF Arboretum Expands Offering for Digital Game Designers.” UCF COS NEWS. Retrieved from https://sciences.ucf.edu/news/virtual-ucf-arboretum-expands-offerings-for-digital-game-designers/

Popescu, Iulia. (June 1, 2021). “Groundbreaking Work Provides Insight on Informal Learning." UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media. Retrieved from https://communication.ucf.edu/groundbreaking-work-provides-insight-on-informal-learning/

Popescu, Iulia. (April 1, 2021). “Virtual Nature: Making Knowledge Beautiful." UCF Nicholson School of Communication and Media, Retrieved from https://communication.ucf.edu/virtual-nature-making-knowledge-beautiful/

Beebe, Kendall. (March 18, 2021). “The benefit of plants on mental health in a post—pandemic society.” NSM Today, Retrieved from http://www.nicholsonstudentmedia.com/news/the-benefit-of-plants-on-mental-health-in-a-post-pandemic-society/article_77435666-82e1-11eb-ab38-efd5a32108b8.html

Kotala, Zenaida. (August 26, 2020). “UCF Offers Free Nature-themed VR and AR Applications to Help Students and Those Isolated Because of COVID-19.” UCF Today, Retrieved from https://www.ucf.edu/news/ucf-offers-free-nature-themed-vr-and-ar-applications-to-help-students-and-those-isolated-because-of-covid-19/

Kotala, Zenaida. (May 11, 2020). “Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, Awards UCF Professor Grant to Enhance AR and VR Technology.” UCF Today, Retrieved from https://www.ucf.edu/news/epic-games-maker-of-fortnite-awards-ucf-professor-grant-to-enhance-ar-and-vr-technology/

Giller, Jamie. (May 4, 2020). “Alumni Leading Virtual Reality: As an undergraduate student, Thomas Pring ’20 worked in two research labs to level up from gamer to virtual reality game designer.” UCF Today, Retrieved from https://www.ucf.edu/news/leading-virtual-reality/

Smith, Heather. (December 6, 2018). “UCF Partners with Carnegie Museum on Augmented Reality App That Brings Gardens to Life.” UCF Today. Retrieved from https://today.ucf.edu/augmented-reality-app-brings-appalachian-wildflower-gardens-life-smartphones

Martin, Kyle. (December 3, 2018). “The Virtual Arboretum Visits Coming Soon.” UCF COS NEWS. Retrieved from https://sciences.ucf.edu/news/virtual-arboretum-visits-coming-soon/?fbclid=IwAR34sfbIJuq8IrY0GVs8nlUHrmB2HvtfygUncLRfnX1TptIZpeLkL_39pgU 

Weisberg, Deborah. “Technology Comes to the Trillium Trail, One Woman’s Efforts Enhance both Education and the Environment.” Interviewed by The SHADY AVE, Spring 2015

“The Virtual Trillium Trail, Explore a virtual forest to learn more about the natural world,” Remake Learning.com 2012. Retrieved from https://remakelearning.org/project/virtual-trillium-trail/

INNOVATION & STARTUPS “Fox Chapel students hike the Trillium Trail virtually and in person,” POP City, Aug. 2012

“Alumni Trailblazer, Maria C. R. Harrington,” Interviewed by Pitt Magazine, Imagine, Spring 2012

 

Creative Works Overview

 

The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project (2016 – Present)

The Virtual UCF Arboretum Project is an investigation of the design, development, and evaluation of immersive informal learning applications created to work as an educational simulation field trip. It is unique in that it visualized ESRI geographic information system (GIS) data of native plants and flowers over a large open world to represent 100 hectares (247 acres) of a Central Florida landscape in Epic Games Unreal Engine. As an example of an early digital twin of a natural environment, it achieves high information accuracy in the plant models, inventory, and distribution data, with photorealistic detail to match the real environment. The design not only visualized the data, but also made all objects interactive, and using metadata connected graphical objects to the semantic data to produce an interactive learning user interface. The resulting work is an immersive, multimodal, interactive, geospatial data visualization experienced as an embodied digital twin of the real world. A new study is using an Infinadeck Omnidirectional treadmill with a TESLASUIT to measure human reactions to the experiences. Several journal, conferences papers, awards, and grants have resulted.

·       Download: https://the-harrington-lab.itch.io/the-virtual-ucf-arboretum 

·       Video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC41UPaOORst2jh7XWwskYXw/videos

 

The AR Perpetual Garden App Project (2017 – Present)

The AR Perpetual Garden App is an augmented reality app that was launched on the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Apple iTunes and Google Play Android stores in 2018. As one of the first to use SLAM technology (ARCore and ARKit SDKs) it visualized a forest understory as a type of a native botanical garden and as a virtual extension to a museum diorama. It is unique as it offers an immersive, multimodal, interactive, embodied experience (e.g. AR Holodeck). Several IRB approved informal learning and user experience study evaluations were conducted onsite with the public, and resulted in several papers published at ACM, IEEE, journals, and awards.

·       Download: https://the-harrington-lab.itch.io/the-ar-perpetual-garden-apps 

·       Video: https://youtu.be/maJ7iOu2BT4

 

The Virtual Trillium Trail Project (2008)

The Virtual Trillium Trail Project was a modification to Unreal Tournament used to create one of the first data visualizations of a nature preserve. Part of a Ph.D. dissertation in information science (2003-2008), mixed-methods were used in the research design to measure usability, emotional, behavioral, and learning outcomes influenced by design factors in an immersive and embodied virtual field trip. The pilot study showed the real field trip to be a superior learning environment overall as there were more salient signals in the real environment. However, the virtual matched real when the content was identical. Evidence of priming, transfer, and reinforcement were measured indicating that the best educational practices are to use the virtual and real experiences together to prime, transfer, and reinforce. Visual Fidelity (immersion) and Navigational Freedom (embodiment) showed significant statistical interaction and effects on emotional, behavioral, and learning outcomes. The combined conditions of both High Visual Fidelity (photorealistic) and High Navigational Freedom (360 free choice) resulted in superior Knowledge Gained on tests, (Mean = 37.44% increase in test scores, SD = 13.88) when compared to the Low Visual Fidelity and Low Navigational Freedom conditions (Mean = 20.93 % increase in test scores, SD = 13.36). The study showed the importance of the design choices on learning outcomes, independent of all other factors.

·       Download: https://the-harrington-lab.itch.io/the-virtual-trillium-trail

·       Video: https://www.youtube.com/user/VirtualFieldTripsLLC/about

 

Grants and Contracts: $133,471.00

 

External Funding Awarded: $64,120.00                                                                                            

 

Epic Games Epic MegaGrant 2020                                                        

Principal Investigator: $25,000                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Awarded funds to extend creative and research impact of my lab, The Harrington Lab with The Virtual UCF Arboretum projects. All 70 virtual nature models were optimized for AR and VR. Several shaders and realistic methods were developed, models were packaged, new forest “paintbrushes” were created to embed the GIS plant inventory and population densities into art asset packages for the Epic Marketplace stores for a 2021 release date, making all models available to the community.

 

Carnegie Museum of Natural History Artist in Residence Powdermill Nature Reserve 2018

Principal Investigator: $1,620

Awarded a fellowship and an on-site artist residency at the Powdermill Nature Reserve to gather materials, collaborate with research scientists and staff educators to create an augmented reality app for informal education, “The Perpetual Garden, a Virtual and Augmented Reality Exploration & Investigation of Digital Nature.” The resulting AR apps were published on Apple iTunes, and Google Play Stores, several papers, research studies, NSF grants, and magazine and newspaper articles were produced.

 

Ideal Foundry Entertainment & Ed Tech Business Accelerator Program Grant 2010

Principal Investigator: $7,500

Virtual Field Trips, LLC funded to port applications to the Apple platform

 

IBM Grant for Education and Innovation Award 1991 – 1992

Co-Principal Investigator: $30,000

University of Toronto, Rotman School MBA Program, Toronto, Canada

Training Saver, an interactive, multimedia, and annotation video editor system was developed to support graduate students in developing soft-skills required for negotiations, meeting management, and conflict resolution. 

 

Internal Funding Awarded: $67,851.00                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

UCF Research Foundation GAP Fund Award 2022 - Present

Principal Investigator: $48,554

Awarded funds to purchase commercial software licenses and hardware required to develop virtual nature products in the new Unreal Engine 5 and Reality Capture photogrammetry environment and to upgrade all products to cinematography levels of photorealism for real-time, interactive digital twin models and simulation of the natural world. 

 

UCF ORC VPR Advancement of Early Career Researchers (AECR) 2019-2020

Co- Principal Investigator PI: Kristin Horan, Co-PI: Maria Harrington, (Split $2,987.53):  $6,097

Awarded funds to investigate the effects of active work breaks using virtual nature experiences, “AECR: Work Breaks, Health, and Performance,” to develop a treadmill interface to the virtual nature environment of The Virtual UCF Arboretum

 

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Faculty Professional Development Grant Faculty Professional Development Grant 2012

Co-Principal Investigator, Co-PI: Danielson,B., Golden,J.,and Kovalchick, L: $12,000

 “Investigation and Evaluation of Virtual Worlds”2012 Faculty Professional Development Council (FPDC) —Professional Development in Support of Collaborative Academic Grants, Round III, PASSHE, Slippery Rock University.

 

University of Pittsburgh PhD Graduate Fellow 2000 - 2008

Stipend and tuition support for five years.                                                                    

 

Holyoke Community College Planning and Innovation Grant 1997

Principal Investigator: $1,200

Development of a web-based framework for online, multimedia course material for computer science students

 

Teaching Grants                                                                                                                     

 

Learning Analytics in STEM Education Research (LASER) Institute 2022- 2023                                                                                  

National Science Foundation funded workshop to learn R programming and Python. $1,500

Competitive application to receive funding for travel and intensive training in data science, machine learning, and social network analysis algorithms applied to learning analytics. Developed understanding of programming to be able to construct statistical analysis of multivariable data sets from educational studies.

 

Travel Grants                                                                                                                          

 

UCF ORC Travel Award 2019

Travel to present at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) Meeting

 

UCF ORC / NSF Career Travel Award 2018                                         

National Science Foundation Travel Grant April, 2018

Invited to review NSF grants as part of a national team of experts on AR and VR by the NSF, Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE), Information & Intelligent Systems Division (CII), Cyber-Human Systems (CHS) - CHS Small ARVR Panel Grant Reviewer, Washington DC

 

National Science Foundation Travel Grant 2006

Travel grant to ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) Conference, Pennsylvania State College

 

ESRI GIS Mapping and Software Travel Grant 2005

Travel grant to the Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT)

 

Mentoring and Advising Students in Research Activity

 

Students Supervised in Research                                                                                       

·       Ph.D. Graduate students

1.        Michelle Patterson  – Dissertation Committee Member College of Community Innovation and Education, Fall 2022 - Present

2.       Shalece Kohnke, PhD. Graduate Student, School of Teacher Education – Internship (Voluntary advisor on mixed methods research design and an IRB study using the AR Perpetual Garden App to close the STEM learning gap), 2021 - 2023

3.       William Allen – Dissertation Committee Member Text and Technology. Defended 2021

4.       Ha’Ani Hogan – Dissertation Committee Member Text and Technology, Fall 2020 –Fall 2021

5.       Eissa Saha – Ph.D. Preliminary Exam Committee Text and Technology, 2020. Defended

6.       David Moran – Ph.D. Preliminary Exam Committee Text and Technology, 2018. Defended

·       Digital Media MA Graduate students

7.        Erica Winfrey – Studio Chair. Graduated 2023

8.       Iulia Popescu – Thesis Chair. Defended and Graduated 2023

9.       Marisela Allen – Studio Chair. Graduated 2021

10.    Sarah Morell – Studio Chair. Graduated 2022

11.     Diego Faverio – Studio Chair. Graduated 2022

·       Modeling & Simulation MS Graduate students

12.     Christopher Webb, Thesis Chair. 2022 - Present

13.     Fred Martin, Thesis Chair. Defended and Graduated 2023

14.     Brittany Fischer (Henthorm), (Voluntary advisor in my lab), 2021

·       Department of Psychology Graduate students

15.      Sandra Monengro. (Voluntary advisor, IRB research study in my lab), 2022 - present

16.     Nina Steigerwald. (Voluntary advisor, IRB research study in my lab), 2022 - present

·       Honors in the Major Program – BA Undergraduate Program

1.        Danny Acosta Forte – Thesis Chair, January 2021 – Fall 2022. Nicholson School of Communication and Media and in the Burnett Honors College

2.       Indira Avendano – Committee Member, Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and in the Burnett Honors College. Graduated 2021

·       Digital Media – BA Undergraduate Program

DIG 4941: Internship (15 Students), Fall 2019 - Spring 2023

o    Students were supervised in paid internships, some with national organizations: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Lockheed Martin, IBM, and many worked in the Orlando web marketing, games, or simulation industry.

DIG 4912: Directed Independent Research (20 Students), Spring 2018- Spring 2022

o    Designed and built research experiences focused on each individual’s goals. Mentored and advised each student in the creation of their own research projects, and publication, graduate school applications and career strategy. Students participate in the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) poster competitions.

DIG 3905 & 4906: Independent Study (4 Students), Fall 2017 - Spring 2018

o    Students were supervised in independent studies, based on artistic and technical skills development.

 

Teaching

 

UCF Digital Media – MA Graduate Program

DIG 6825: Research Design for Digital Media (3 Sections) 2021 - 2023

Approx. 10 graduate students per section

Designed and built this class to address the needs of graduate students in digital media. Students develop their own research questions in the course, and create a meaningful research design to evaluate the data. Research design using mixed-methods, between-subject and within-subject, qualitative and quantitative analysis is covered. Some basic statistics understanding is assumed, yet descriptive statistics, parametric, non-parametric statistics, and causality and correlation are also covered to allow for evaluation of digital media and immersive interactive designs. The evaluation of the design’s outcomes, such as emotions, learning, and actions, often require mixed-methods research design. This course connects the application design directly to the research design, materials, methods, processes, and statistics selected for a meaningful interpretation of an original research question. Attention to ethics in research, IRBs, and APA publication standards of work is covered. Many students receive IRB approval and produce a draft of their dissertation or thesis in this class. 

DIG 6812: Digital Interaction for Informal Learning (6 Sections) 2018 - 2022

Approx. 10 graduate students per section

Designed and built this class to address AR/VR/MR digital media product design grounded in informal learning literature. Students will experience ethnographic fieldwork, and review empirical results on design elements and solutions that work for museums, science centers, botanical gardens, arboretums, and other informal learning environments. The graduate student experience is enhanced with unique collaborations local museums and science centers to provide real-world ethnographic and participatory design opportunities with real stakeholders and users.

Student success stories:

·          Student class project collaborated with the Orlando Museum of Art to secure an external grant. That funding paid for a summer internship to produce a fully functioning product integrated into the museum’s programming. Such projects provide the base for thesis and future publications for the student.

·          Graduate students publications resulting from this class: Florida Digital Humanities Conference in 2020, ACM SIGGRAPH 2021, 2022, I/ITSEC 2023 (accepted).

·          Many students continue to develop their project in the DIG 6825 Research Design for Digital Media and successfully submit IRBs for approval. 

DIG 5565C: Digital Asset Management Systems (2 Sections) 2017 - 2018

Approx. 10 graduate students per section

Designed and built this class. Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMs), and related Content Management Systems (CMS), (e.g. ERMS, MIS, supply chain management systems, e-commerce, semantic web), are discussed as relevant to business process improvement best practices, increased production pipeline efficiencies, and digital media application development across organizational operations.

UCF Digital Media – BA Undergraduate Program

DIG 3811: User Centered Design (16 Sections) 2016 - 2023

Approx. 50 undergraduates per section

Designed and built this class drawing upon years of industry and academic experience and knowledge. Students are instructed on requirements gathering, interface design (web, mobile apps, and games), and evaluation, with mastery of user centered design methods and processes required to conduct field research, evaluation, and design with respect to human-computer interaction theory and evaluation. Students master market research, survey and interview data gathering and evaluation, field work using think aloud protocols, and evaluation using user task analysis, information architecture, interaction flow charts, iterative design and prototyping. The course emphases team work and collaboration in an iterative design process, creating a high fidelity prototype and user experience (UX) requirements specification document by the end of the class. Many of the top students have been placed in internships and full time employment in the field.

DIG 3525: Digital Media Production I. (5 Sections) 2016 - 2018

Approx. 100 undergraduates per section

Designed and built this class. Project management of digital media products (animation, web, mobile apps, games, VR/AR, and digital media art), and mastery of WBS, Gantts, budgets, software engineering life cycle combined with a creative digital pipeline processes to produce a professional project management plan, high fidelity prototype, production schedule, and a realistic detailed budget. Several students have launched careers in project management.

DIG 3024: Digital Cultural Narratives (1 Section) Spring 2020

Approx. 140 undergraduates per section – Web online mode

Designed and built this class. New preparation and a major revision of all course materials, assignments, and tests, to update and include multimedia, AR, VR, and XR tools needed to expand student of digital cultures and narrative theories. Extended the scope of the curriculum, from text and fiction only, to multimedia and factual applications of story required to broaden the interdisciplinary perspectives.  Conceptual structure and design of visual and interactive nonlinear storytelling is applied to both entertainment and scientific communication strategies.

 

Classes taught at other institutions                                                                                    

Computer Information Technology 111: Java Programming (2 Sections) 2016

The Community College of Allegheny County, Approx. 35 students per section

Introduction to programming, Java, NetBeans IDE, problem solving, flow charting, pseudocode, used intelligent tutoring systems, video, and mobile apps to support student learning (98% student successful completion rates with A or B grades earned) and transfer credit to the University of Pittsburgh CS

Multi-Media & Communications 160: Game Design & Simulation I (1 Section) Spring 2016

The Community College of Allegheny County, Approx. 25 students

Game design and development using MIT Scratch, Fusion, and Stencyl

Multi-Media & Communications 160: Game Design & Simulation II (1 Section) Spring 2016

The Community College of Allegheny County, Approx. 25 students

Game design and development using Blender, Maya, and Unreal Game Engine

Computer Science 443: Software Project Management Fall 2009 – Spring 2013

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 15 undergraduates per section

Project management of and mastery of WBS, Gantts, budgets, and software engineering life cycle management

Computer Science 413: Systems Analysis and Design Fall 2009 – Spring 2013

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Software analysis and design, using UML

Computer Science 365: Management Information Systems Fall 2009 – Spring 2013

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Value chain system analysis with supply chain, distribution chain, ecommerce, and legal, ethical, security and risk dimensions to design and control of operations with systems  

Computer Science 323: Database Systems Fall 2009 – Spring 2013

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Introduction to analysis and design and software development of DBMS, using SQL, tables, queries, and reports

Computer Science 210: Productivity Software Fall 2009 – Spring 2013

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Service course offered to all university students on the use of Microsoft Office software

Computer Science110: Computer Concepts Fall 2009 – Spring 2013

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Service course offered to all university students on hardware, software, operating systems, the Internet and World Wide Web, ethics, privacy, security, and intellectual property

MFA New Media (2 Sections) Summer 2009 – Fall 2009

Slippery Rock University, Approx. 45 graduate students per section

New Media, mixed digital media, project development and art installation for MFA capstone projects, online portfolios, and film pitches harnessed the possibilities of the web and social media

BFA Media Literacy (2 Sections), Summer 2009– Fall 2009

Chatham University, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Issues surrounding technology convergence and its impact on humanity, society, economics, and the environment

Information Science 1052: User Centered Design, Spring 2000 – Spring 2008

University of Pittsburgh Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Same class as the Human Computer Interaction class, but was renamed starting in 2005

Information Science 1052: Human Computer Interaction, Spring 2000 – Spring 2008

University of Pittsburgh, Approx. 30 undergraduates per section

Human computer interaction, requirements gathering, user profiles, market, technology, user task analysis, and prototyping

Information Science 1044: Human Factors in System Design, Spring 2000 – Spring 2008

University of Pittsburgh, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Human factors, applied phycology, to the design of systems responsive to and constrained by human limits

Information Science 1080: Introduction to Information Science, Spring 2000 – Spring 2008

University of Pittsburgh, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

Introduction to information science, data management and statistics, information retrieval systems analysis and design, HCI, and the broader impact of information on society in terms of ethics, legal systems, economic and political systems, and intellectual property rights

Introduction to Computer Concept Fall 1996 – Spring 1997

Holyoke Community College, Approx. 45 undergraduates per section

 

The Harrington Lab at UCF Educational Impact

Undergraduate Research Assistants directly supervised, mentored, and advised in my research. Projects are interdisciplinary, and highly collaborative. Methods, practices, and process of the highest standards are used in the creation of digital media product development. Ways of thinking, seeing, and solving problems are modeled, as well as communication, teamwork, and partnerships, in order to develop in the students an advanced understanding of norms required for achieving excellence in product and team, especially important for co-creation, joint decision making and problem solving, and learning strategies necessary to support emergent, yet optimized, solutions to complex problems.

 

Student educational impact and public outreach resulting from research

·       The Virtual UCF Arboretum - VR Omnidirectional Treadmill -  September 2022. https://photos.app.goo.gl/zNdGTRJw2mud9xiy5 

·       DIG 6812: Digital Interactive Informal Learning, Fall 2021, Field Trip to VR Omnidirectional Treadmill,  September 28, 2021 https://photos.app.goo.gl/eyMuoRxN9fAoU8vM9

·       DIG 6812: Digital Interactive Informal Learning, Spring 2021 and Lulia's MA Thesis https://photos.app.goo.gl/dKLsgwjTmVKnHniE6

·       DIG 6812: Digital Interactive Informal Learning, Fall 2021 https://photos.app.goo.gl/8DZF91eK9D8dkKmcA 

·       Virtual Nature, Field photography, LiDAR, Reality Capture methods https://photos.app.goo.gl/EJfUr26nMFZ4RYLS7 

·       DIG 6812 Digital Interaction for Informal Learning: Partnerships with Orlando Museum of Art, and UCF Celebrates the Arts: 2020, 2019 https://photos.app.goo.gl/cqe2bC1u48XRCyp4A 

·       Otronicon 2020 - UCF Arboretum and NSCM/GaIM Expo https://photos.app.goo.gl/NwJ9R7HJuQPEHUnE9 

·       AR Lab Tutorial DIG 6812: Digital Interaction for Informal Learning,  Spring 2020 https://photos.app.goo.gl/VQsQQRsPgrVNB8EA6 

·       Virtual Nature talk to UCF Women's Club, Oct 1st 2021 https://photos.app.goo.gl/CrEMQqBukFKwCmZK9 

·       AR Forest App - Test 1, Feb 2021 https://photos.app.goo.gl/cAzgvDXmUa2EHpURA  

·       AR Perpetual Garden App - UCF Story 2020 https://photos.app.goo.gl/1mnd1YvtwfSQMom9A 

·       The Virtual UCF Arboretum VR Headset and Treadmill Project, 2019: GaIM collaboration with Dept. Psychology, COS, UCF https://photos.app.goo.gl/CnPvvjY1qZ2k8X2m6

 

Undergraduate Research Students Supervised (13) in The Harrington Lab         

 

·       Zachary Bledsoe:

o    Presented work in the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) poster competitions, and OSC Otronicon Speaker Series

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant: Team Lead, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist and Modeler, Unreal Engine Production Pipeline Lead, (August 2017 – August 2018).

o    Internship, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh PA, (January 2018 – May 2018).

o    Leidos, Orlando Fl.  3D Modeler: https://www.leidos.com/

·       Chris Jones

o    Presented work in the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) poster competitions, and OSC Otronicon Speaker Series

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant: Lead 3D Artist and Modeler, Environmental Artist, and Unreal Engine, (October 2017 – December 2018).

o    Internship, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh PA, (January 2018 – May 2018).

o    Imaginary Lights, Orlando, Fl.  3D Modeler: http://www.imaginarylights.com/

o    Epic Mega Grants, contractor (2020-2021)

·       James Miller

o    Presented work at the OSC Otronicon Speaker Series

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant: Lead Developer and Programmer, Unreal Engine, January 2018 – May 2019.

o    Design Interactive Inc., Orlando Fl. Software Engineer: https://designinteractive.net/

·       Thomas Pring

o    Presented work at the OSC Otronicon Speaker Series

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant: Programmer, Unreal Engine, HTC VIVE, January 2018 – 2020.

o    Paid Undergraduate Research Assistant on the UCF/Office of Research & Commercialization, VPR Advancement of Early Career Researchers (AECR), “Virtual Nature Work Breaks, Health, and Performance,” Co-PI: Maria Harrington

o    Paid Undergraduate Research Assistant on UCF Limbitless Solutions, UCF

·       Kellie Beck

o    Presented work in the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) poster competitions

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant: Arboretum Content Liaison, Graphic Designer, and Website and WordPress Developer, (January 2016 – August 2018).

o    Mama’s Sauce (internship) 2019

·       Seun (Oluwaseun) Ademoye

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, 3D Artist, Modeler, and Character Animation, (June – August 2017).

o    Epic Games, Game Capture Specialist (contract), 2019

o    The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, UCF, Instructor, 2018

·       Yasiman Ahsani

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist, Modeler, and Unreal Engine Production Pipeline Lead, (June – August 2017).

o    Oculus VR, Associate Producer https://www.oculus.com/

o    Epic Games, Cary, NC. Unreal Engine, Production Assistant, Environmental Artist: https://www.epicgames.com/site/en-US/home

·       Jeremy Blake

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist, Modeler, Unreal Engine Art. (October 2017– May 2018).

o    CyberDreamVR (internship) Level Design

·       Bailey Estelle

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist, Modeler, Unreal Engine Art. (October 2017 – May 2018).

·       Sebastian Hyde

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist, Modeler, Unreal Engine Art, (October 2017 – December 2017).

o    Razor Edge Games. Environmental 3D Modeler

o    Tectonic Corp. Hard Surfaces 3D Modeler

 

·         Katherine Ryschkewitsch

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, 3D Artist, Modeler, and Character Animation, (June – August 2017).

o    Apopka Memorial Middle School, Art Teacher

·         Marchand Venter

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist, Modeler, and Unreal Engine Production Pipeline Lead, (June – August 2017).

o    Red Storm Entertainment, 3D Environment Artist:

o    The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy Master’s Program at UCF, 2018

o    Rockwell Collins, 2017

·        Aubri White

o    Undergraduate Research Assistant, Environmental Artist, 3D Artist, (October 2017 – December 2017).

 

Service

 

International Level

Springer Nature, Virtual Reality Journal, Editorial Board Member (Invited) 2021 - Present

https://www.springer.com/journal/10055/updates/18008620 (Impact Factor 5.095)

Springer Nature, Virtual Reality Journal, Guest Editor (Invited) 2021

Special FLASH Issue of Springer Virtual Reality journal on “Augmented and Virtual Reality in the Time of COVID-19: Design, Innovation, and Evaluation of Immersive Applications.”(CFP due March 1, 2021)

Co-editors: Carolina Cruz-Neira, Gregory Welch, Ben Noel, and David Wells. https://www.springer.com/journal/10055/updates/18008620 (Impact Factor 5.095).

Canada Foundation for Innovation, Expert Grant Review Committee Member (Invited)  2020, 2022

Journal Reviewer (Invited)                                                                                                   

·       Virtual Reality Journal, Reviewed 10 articles (2020 - 2023) Impact factor 5.095

·       Computers & Education, Elsevier Journal – Reviewer (April, 2022, 2009) Impact factor 8.5

·       Journal of Education Psychology (August, November, 2020) Impact factor 6.133

·       Multimodal Technologies and Interaction (April 2019)

·       Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE) – Reviewer (January 2013) Impact factor 1.000

·       Journal of Science Education and Technology (JOST) – Reviewer (April 2012) Impact factor 1.935

Conference Program Committee Member (Invited)                                                        

·       ACM SIGGRAPH 2023 – General Submissions

·       ACM SIGGRAPH 2007 – Education Program Committee

Conference Reviewer (Invited)                                                                                            

·       IEEE Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (2021)

·       IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR, 2020)

·       MW20 Museum and Web International Conference (2020)

·       ACM SIG CHI Papers Track – Learning Sciences and AR (2019)

·       ACM SIG CHI IDC 2018 Papers & Notes (2018)

·       ISECON – Reviewer (2012)

·       ACM SIGGRAPH 2007 – Paper Review Committee (2007)

National Level

·       National Science Foundation Reviewer (Invited) January, 2023

·       National Science Foundation Reviewer (Invited) January, 2022

·       National Science Foundation Reviewer (Invited) April, 2018

 

University of Central Florida

University Level

UCF Learning Sciences Cluster, 2017 – Present

·       Invited to represent the digital media department in formation of a new multidisciplinary unit

·       Participated in Learning Sciences Symposium 2017

·       2018 New Faculty Search Committee – member, advocate for Roger Azevedo and team

UCF Undergraduate Research Council, 2018 – Present

College Level

Graduate Faculty Member, Graduate Faculty in the College of Graduate Studies, UCF, 2016 – Present

CAH Core Faculty Member, Text and Technology Ph.D. Program, UCF, 2017 – 2020

School Level

NSCM Promotion and Tenure Committee, Faculty Member, Fall 2022 - Present

NSCM Graduate Program Committee, Faculty Member, Fall 2020 – Present

NSCM Graduate Program Ad-Hock Committee on Assessment, Faculty Member, Fall 2020

Department and Program Level

GaIM Digital Media MA Ad-Hock Marketing and Recruitment, Chair, Spring 2022 - Present

GaIM Program Faculty Search Committee, Chair, Spring 2022

GaIM Digital Media Graduate Program Committee, Faculty Member, Fall 2020 – Present

GaIM Program Faculty Search Committee, Faculty Member, Spring 2020, Fall 2021

GaIM Program Ad-Hock COVID19 Contingency Planning Committee, Spring 2020 – Fall 2020

GaIM Program Strategic Plan Report, Co-Author, 2018

GaIM Program International Student Exchange Program Report, Co-Author, 2018 – 2020

Digital Media Program Benchmarking Committee Chair, UCF 2016-2017

Digital Media Program Committee Member, GaIM Undergraduate Assessment, 2019 – 2020

Digital Media Program Committee Member, SVAD Exhibition Committee, 2016 – 2017

Digital Media Program Faculty Member, Digital Media Ad-hoc Committee New Curriculum, 2016

Digital Media Program Faculty Member, UCF Downtown Campus Brainstorming, 2017

 

Professional Memberships

·       MW (MuseWeb)

·       The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

·       The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

·       The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T)

Community Service

Committee Member, Otronicon Advisory Board, Orlando Science Center, 2018 – 2020, Fall 2021

Committee Member, Fox Chapel Borough Parks Commission, 2009 – 2017